


Reverse

by DriftingAlongTheWind



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-11-03 16:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17881595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DriftingAlongTheWind/pseuds/DriftingAlongTheWind
Summary: Adrien and Marinette both lose their memories after they defeat Hawkmoth and return their Miraculous. However, a few years later, a new threat arises, and Paris is in need of it's old heroes again. Can the Adrien and Marinette rise to the call?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are with a new fic!! I hope you enjoy it, and as always, PLEASE feel free to comment whatever you feel after reading!!!

_“Do we really have to do this?”_

_Marinette and Adrien stood in an alley, looking at their Kwami. They had just defeated Hawkmoth, and Adrien was not taking it well. Who would have guessed that his very own father, Gabriel Agreste, was the man who was terrorizing all of Paris?_

_“You know we have to, Marinette. We have to protect the secrets of the Miraculous.” Tikki drooped in the air._

_Marinette and Adrien had only just recently revealed their identities to each other. It was like they had only just found each other. And now they had to lose each other all over again._

_Plagg floated forward “You will be fine. You’ll wake up in the hospital with no memory of the last two years. They’ll think that you were in some sort of accident. It’ll be hard to begin with, but you two can do it.”_

_Marinette looked over to Adrien, who looked like he was just seconds away from crying. He looked over at her, and she grabbed him in a hug. Plagg and Tikki started glowing and flying around their heads, chanting something in a strange language._

_As the kwami spun, getting brighter, Marinette heard something to her right, like a foot scuffing on concrete followed by a gasp. Marinette looked over and saw blue eyes and everything went black._

Marinette gasped, sitting up suddenly. The doctor who was standing nearby jumped and shrieked in shock. Looking around, Marinette tried getting her bearings, but she didn’t know this room. She had never been in this room, let alone ever fallen asleep in this room. She started panicking, but the doctor stepped forward, holding up her hands. 

“Don’t worry, Ms. Dupain-Cheng. You are in the hospital. We found you near a car wreck, along with your friend over there.”

The doctor pointed over to another bed nearby with a blond boy still asleep in it. Marinette remembered him, he was the boy that had put the gum on her seat. She frowned, wondering why he was caught in the same crash as her. 

“He was really brave, trying to protect you.” Marinette must have looked super confused, because the doctor elaborated “We found him holding onto you, like he had tried to throw you away from the oncoming car.”

Before Marinette could respond, the door opened and another doctor entered “She’s awake? Ah, good. I’m glad. Are you feeling well, Marinette?”

Marinette tried speaking, but her throat was so dry, all that came out was a croak. The new doctor held out a cup, and Marinette reached for it eagerly. She tried speaking again, but her voice was still bad, so she just nodded. The doctor leaned over, studying her eyes, shining a light into them. 

“You seem to be doing well. I’ll go get your parents.”

Marinette sat up a bit more. Hopefully, her parents would clear some things up a bit. They walked in, obviously concerned. 

“Marinette! Oh my goodness, how are you doing? I can’t believe this, why were you two out in traffic like that?”

Marinette looked at her parents, her brow furrowed. They seemed… different, somehow. Like, they were older?

The doctor stepped up beside them, looking intently at Marinette “What is the last thing you remember?”

“I...” Marinette coughed “I had just gotten home for lunch. There was some sort of large rock monster or something?”

The doctor looked at her parents, and they returned his look with a dejected air. Her father looked back at her, pain in his eyes. 

“Mari, that… that was two years ago. It’s almost the end of the school year.”

Marinette felt her stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot. She didn’t want to believe them, but it made sense. Her parents looked like they were a bit older, especially since they had obviously been waiting for her to wake up for a few days. Her father even sported a bit of a beard in addition to his mustache.

There was a noise from across the room. Adrien was waking up. The two doctors shared tight glances, like they didn’t want to greet him as he woke up. Her parents, though, rushed over to him. He seemed to be as disconcerted as she felt. One of the doctors offered him another cup of water, and he drank it quickly. 

He looked around, and saw her. He immediately finished the cup of water, and straightened up “It’s Marinette, right? I promise, I didn’t put the gum on your seat. I’m just new at this. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner. I promised myself that I would tell you as soon as I saw you again.”

Marinette was stunned at his sincerity. He really meant it. Maybe he wasn’t so bad… 

The doctors looked at each other awkwardly. There was something wrong here. What was wrong?

“Adrien… um… I don’t know how to tell you this...”

“Have you heard of the terrorist known as Hawkmoth?” The other doctor stepped in. When Adrien shook his head, he continued “He terrorized Paris by turning people into these monsters. Two heroes known as Ladybug and Chat Noir saved those people and fought against him. Just last week, they finally defeated him after two years. Hawkmoth… well… his identity was revealed to the world...”

“It was your father, Adrien. Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth.”

Adrien looked between the two of them, then burst out laughing “You expect me to believe that my father was a supervillain who terrorized Paris and he was defeated by some heroes named after animals?”

The doctors looked between themselves (again) and turned on the TV to the news. 

“-a week since the last appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir. They haven’t been seen since the defeat of Hawkmoth, also known as famed fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. His son is still in the hospital following a car accident.”

Marinette stared at the TV. So, it was true? Her idol was a terrorist? And, what about Adrien? Was he in on it? 

One look at the expression Adrien had was enough to tell Marinette what she needed to know. He had nothing to do with it. He looked completely shattered. But the TV was not done yet.

“-and his secretary, Nathalie Sanceour, was also apprehended for aiding and abetting his actions. Not only did she know about it and not stop him, she actively helped him. So far, the bodyguard commonly seen around Adrien Agreste does not seem to have been involved.”

The look on Adriens’ face fell even further. Marinette had read that Adriens’ mother had vanished a few years back, so those two were probably the only parents he had when he was in the accident. His face immediately fell as the news sunk in. 

Then, something occurred to Marinette. He lost his memory as well. He immediately asked for her forgiveness for something that apparently happened two years ago. 

“-should be able to be released soon. There was no significant harm done. It’s surprising, really. However, we will need to talk to you about the apparent memory loss.”

Marinette and Adrien both perked up. They would be released soon? Marinette was excited. She hated whenever she was not allowed to go outside when she was sick, so she guessed that she would hate being cooped up in a hospital worse. Soon, she would be able to get out of this hospital and get back to life. Whatever life would be now that the last two years were gone.

**ADRIEN**

A week after he woke up, Adrien found out that life outside the hospital was hell for him.

Adrien had been holding out hope that the doctors were wrong, that the news was wrong, and that his father and Nathalie were really not criminals, and they were just playing a prank on him. But, in the last couple of days since he was released, Adrien knew the truth. 

Everyone hated him now. He no longer had any ads around Paris, since they were all connected to Hawkmoth, and the populace of Paris gave him a wide berth. Some of them even looked like they were ready to attack him. 

Adrien had to move in with the Gorilla, who lived in a small apartment close to Marinettes’ house. The difference between his old mansion and this new house was shocking to Adrien. He was used to large open spaces, but now he was in a cramped apartment. 

Adrien actually kinda loved it. The Gorilla was not very talkative, but he was always there to make sure Adrien was comfortable. He had gotten a job while Adrien was at school, and made sure that he was off work by the time Adrien was home. Adrien felt like he had gotten a father he never really knew he wanted this badly. 

But he was not the only person Adrien became closer to. 

Marinette was a centerpiece of Adriens’ life. She never seemed to blame him, or think that he was connected to the terrorist scourge his father had caused. 

Adrien spent his days watching the Ladyblog with Marinette, both of them coming to realize what had happened these last two years. Adrien could never seem to be able to tear his eyes away from the screen. Not only because he couldn’t stop thinking about how it was his father doing this, but also he couldn’t stop looking at Ladybug. She was cute, yes, but that wasn’t the only reason he watched her. She seemed familiar somehow, like Adrien should know her somehow, but he could never place his finger on it.

The accident had occurred in the middle of summer, so Adrien and Marinette also had to cram for the last two years they as good as skipped. It was during this time that Adrien met Alya and Nino. They had barged in while Marinette and Adrien studied, hugging them so tightly, Adrien felt his back creaking. 

“I’m so glad you two are OK!! I can’t believe it, your parents told us about your memories. Is there any way we can help?”

Alya was a name Adrien was familiar with, since she ran the Ladyblog. Nino was also familiar. Adrien had met him on the first day of school. Apparently, Adrien had taken him up on his offer of friendship. 

Alya stayed near Marinette the rest of the day, talking them through the assignments. Nino leaned close to Adrien, whispering in his ear “Dude, that really does suck about your dad. I hear everyone in Paris is kind of turned against you, but don’t worry bro. The entire class knows that you are cool. We’ll defend you if we need to.”

Adrien nodded his thanks to Nino and they returned to their assignment. Adrien flew through the physics curriculum, but struggled with history. Marinette was the opposite, so they helped each other. While the two of them were working, Adrien noticed a closeness between Alya and Nino, and raised an eyebrow at Nino, who shrugged. 

Once summer ended, Adrien and Marinette stood together outside the school. They watched the other students file in, most of them glaring at Adrien. Marinette grabbed his hand to give him comfort, and he squeezed back thankfully. Taking a deep breath, they walked in. 

The class was the same, for some reason. It seemed that the school decided that to keep the students more comfortable while at school, they kept them in the same groups for the last couple years. Everyone seemed awkward when Adrien walked in, but it was different from the anger he had seen from everyone else. This was a bit more of… Pity?

“Adrien, Marinette! Thank goodness you are OK! I was so worried about you two, I tried to get daddy to pay all of your bills, but he refused. Can you believe it?”

A yellow blur shot over and hugged Adrien. Chloe looked like she as about to cry. She pulled away from Adrien, and went over to Marinette, who adopted a defensive stance. But Chloe just grabbed Marinette in a tight hug. 

“I’m glad you’re OK, Marinette.”

Marinette extricated herself from Chloe and sat down next to Alya, whispering “Did Chloe decide that she doesn’t hate me sometime in the last two years?”

“Girl, I have never seen her even try to talk civilly to you by herself. I’m as confused as you are.”

Adrien looked over, and saw a strange look on Chloes’ face as she looked at Marinette. Chloe then made eye contact with Adrien, and the strange look was still there as she studied something in his eyes, then returned her attention to the front as class started. 

What was that all about?

Either way, it seemed that Adrien had a lot to get used to in the next while.

Time went on, and the name Agreste never really got over the blight it gained. Adrien never got another modeling job, but he didn’t mind. It gave him more time to become friends with the rest of the class. Chloe was still rude to everyone, but she never seemed to do anything to Marinette. Alya and Nino grew closer, as did Adrien and Marinette. He would never admit it, but he was maybe beginning to have a crush on her. But he didn’t think that she felt the same way as him, so he never brought it up. 

Eventually, they all graduated, and Adrien chose to become a teacher, while Marinette became a graphic designer while she went through university. Alya became an editor for a local paper, and Nino was a sound designer for a theater. However, throughout all of this, Adrien couldn’t get the nagging feeling that the two years he was missing were more important than he knew. Like, there was a secret at the tip of his tongue, but he could never get at it. 

Maybe it was nothing, but Adrien kept searching for it. Maybe one day he’ll crack the secret.


	2. A Few Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several years after the events of the first chapter, Adrien and Marinette go through a day of their new lives. Adrien has himself a bit of a side project, though...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is totally not just explanatory exposition... Well, actually... maybe it might be...

“Adrien, turn off that damn racket!” Marinette walked out of her room, frantically reading her notes. 

Adrien poked his head out from the kitchen “It’s just the tea kettle. It’s ready.”

“Well then take it off and pour the tea. I’m trying to study for my test today.”

In the years since they had woken up from the coma, Adrien and Marinette had become fast friends. In fact, when they both were in college, they both moved into a medium sized apartment together. Adrien had felt that he was a bit too much of a drain on the Gorilla, and Marinette wanted to be closer to her university. Chloe had offered them an apartment in a building she owned at a steep discount, and they took her up on it. Marinette still didn’t know why Chloe was suddenly acting so nice, but at this point, Marinette just considered it natural. 

Marinette ran out the door just a few minutes after that, holding a steaming cup in her hand and a book bag in the other. She went down the stairs two at a time, tempting her poor balance, and making it all the way down the three flights of stairs without crashing. She was doing great today! Maybe she even had a chance at getting high marks on her test.

Slamming through the doors of the building, Marinette slid across the floor as she ran to her classroom. She made it just in time, the professor just starting to write on the board. Marinette did her usual walk to the back of the classroom, hiding behind chairs so the professor didn’t see her. 

“Ms. Dupain-Cheng. I’m glad you decided to join us today.”

Shit. The professor saw her.

“I’m so sorry, Madam Bougress. My roommate decided to take his time in the bathroom this morning.”

The class all went “ooh” and Marinette cursed. She had never told them that her roommate was a man. Now, all sorts of rumors would be going around the school. 

“Oh, is it that Adrien guy? The son of hawkmoth? I’ve seen you talking to him several times.”

Marinettes’ heart hammered. She hated it when people attributed Adrien to his father, as if Adrien didn’t have YEARS of modeling experience before that happened. 

Instead of ranting to the class like Marinette wanted to, she instead shrugged and said “He’s been a friend of mine since before the whole Hawkmoth thing.” It was a lie, but it made people feel a bit better. 

Not this time.

“Adrien Agreste should be rotting in a prison right next to his father!”

Marinette whirled around. Of course, it was Neil. He had always been a bit of an arrogant idiot. 

“What do you know of Adrien?”

Neil leaned back in his chair. So, he knew that Marinette was his roommate. He had planned this whole thing. He was just waiting for Marinette to slip up. “Who would be so dumb as to live in the same house as a terrorist, and not even notice?”

Marinette decided to stop the conversation in it’s tracks. She had had these sorts of spats with people before, and they only ever made people angry. And, Marinette had a test to take.

“Well, your family did the same with you, didn’t they?”

Neil opened his mouth as if to respond, but his face contorted into confusion. That was not the answer he was expecting. He didn’t come up with a response in time, and Marinette walked away, leaving him to gape at her. If the faces of the rest of the students were anything to speak of, Marinette had just made their whole day.

“That was magnificent!” Drew said as Marinette sat down next to her “The world needs more people like you, and less people like Neil. People like him just like to cause trouble. They think that tearing the people on top down will get them on top.”

“Well, if they bring down everyone above them, they’ve succeeded.” Marinette responded.

Drew chuckled at that “If Neil gets to the top like that, he’ going to have to work very hard. Why, he’ll have to bring down everyone in this room!”

Marinette almost spit out the water she was drinking to recover from her run. The teacher started making the rounds, passing out the tests. However, Marinette was a bit distracted, thinking about something that had been bothering her for the last couple of weeks, since Adrien had brought it up. 

It’s strange that they went into a coma on the same day, and then woke up on the same day. What had happened so they had the exact same time asleep?

**ADRIEN**

Adrien made himself and Marinette breakfast, but she had run out without even noticing. Adrien hadn’t even remembered that she had a test that day. He had a busy day of his own.

Adrien packed his bag, and walked out the door, heading in the other direction than Marinette had gone. He walked to a different school, and greeted his students as he walked in with them. He wasn’t a full teacher, but he was still just helping a physics teacher. He enjoyed it, though. Today, it was his lesson to teach. He was really looking forward to it. 

“Hello, Class. I hear that we are going to learn about space today.”

Adrien had to wait for the cheers to die down before he started explaining. Today, it was going to be boring, but Adrien had the lesson planned over the entire week. Tomorrow was going to be a lot more fun.

Today was just about the theories and technicalities, not the fun stuff about stars and such. Adrien could tell that his students were losing interest, so he decided to start throwing in a few little things to keep their interest. Instead of keeping everything strictly to the outline he had, Adrien started introducing concepts he would explain more in later days. Now, the students had enough to tie them over until tomorrow. 

Adrien finished up his lesson, and repeated it for every class he had. Once that was done, he got told how he did from the teacher, and then departed back to the apartment. 

Marinette was already home, looking like she was drowning herself in tea. She had a large thermos, which looked even larger since she never got much taller since lycee. She turned when she heard the door, and then returned to dramatically looking at the wall. 

“That test sucked, Adrien! I don’t know that I did well at all! Neil got under my skin, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what you said about our comas, and-”

Adrien grabbed her wrist as she went for another sip. “Marinette. You did fine on the test. You’re the best in the class, your teacher said it herself.”

Marinette shook her head “No, I’m going to fail and I won’t graduate and I’ll be a failure-”

“Marinette. You are the best designer I have ever met, and that’s coming from me, the person with the famous fashion designer-slash-terrorist for a father. And, while I’m pretty sure you’re not a terrorist, I have no doubt that you’d be damn good at it.”

Marinette looked at him with a strange mixture of thankful, bemused, and slightly worried. Adrien smiled back at her. A job well done.

Adrien and Marinette made dinner, watched some TV, but while Marinette went to bed, Adrien pulled up the Ladyblog on his laptop. Even though there has been no updates done to it, Alya had never taken it down. One time, she had posted that she planned to, but so many people asked her not to, Alya kept it up. 

Recently, Adrien had started to do something on the blog, though. A while ago, Adrien kept getting a feeling that he was missing something more than just experiencing a few akuma attacks during his memory loss days. There was something more that was just not fitting. It was like he was almost remembering things about some of the akuma attacks, even though several sources put him far away from them. 

So, Adrien was watching the videos, and pretending he was Chat Noir, trying to predict what the hero would do before the hero actually did it. Most of the time, Adrien was spot on, and Adrien could no longer stop thinking that he might have been the superhero before the accident. One time, Marinette even walked in on him trying to see if he could transform, like some people said they did. 

After stammering out something about pretending and Sailor Moon, Marinette just rolled her eyes and walked away. Adrien figured that he might want to watch less anime after that day. He still hasn’t stopped at all, though. 

However, recently, Adrien came to realize something, and he almost tried to tell Marinette, but chickened out at the last second. 

Marinette was in the exact same coma as he was. What if she was Ladybug, and the same thing happened to both of them? So now, Adrien watched the videos and tried to guess what he thought Marinette would do in certain situations, and it seemed to fit as well. 

Adrien stayed up later than he should have trying to figure it out, and went to sleep for only a few hours. But, he was used to that. He never went to bed at a decent time.

Adrien woke up the next morning to receive a very interesting text from Nino. Apparently, his cousin was in town, and it was causing a stir among the musical community. But, before he could start to dig into it, Marinette screamed in the other room. Adrien leapt to his feet, dashing out the door, but instead found Marinette already awake and on the phone. She talked excitedly, shooting Adrien an apologetic look. She hung up, and looked super happy as she said “Brigettes’ in town!!” 

Adrien didn’t know a lot about Marinettes’ family, but he did know that Marinette really liked Brigette. Adrien wished he felt that way about his cousin, Felix, being in town. 

There was a knock at the door, and Adrien opened it to see Chloe standing outside. He still wasn’t used to her being his landlord. 

“Adrikins, I see that your deplorable cousin is back in town. Did you two ever get over that argument you were in?”

Adrien sighed, remembering that argument “You mean the one about how I definitely helped my father terrorize Paris, and how he will never forgive me? No, we never did get over that one.”

“Pity. Ah, Marinette. You look gorgeous today, I especially love that eye shadow you’re using. How did your test go yesterday?”

Marinette still seemed to be surprised every time Chloe was honestly nice to her, and today was no different “I don’t really know. I mean, I studied and everything, but I don’t know. I find out today, and I don’t know that I can do it.”

“That’s why I’m here. I’ll walk you to school, and I’ll be there after class to support you either way.”

Adrien had some insider information that Alya was also going to be there after the class. After Adriens’ class, he was going to meet up with Nino, and all of them were getting together for dinner.

Adrien left the two girls to their own conversation as he got ready for school. His phone started chiming, but Adrien ignored it as he changed from his pajamas. He still ignored it as he ate breakfast and brushed his teeth. 

But he really wished he did check it as he walked out of his apartment to see the view he had. Adrien looked at it, still not believing what he saw. 

“Ladybug and Chat Noir make their triumphant return” as well as several texts from Alya and Nino. 

Adrien didn’t need that reminder, though, because the two of them were swinging down the street right in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? There's a confusing thing thrown in there too. Adrien was getting too smart. I had to show him wrong.
> 
> NEXT CHAPTER WILL START THE EXCITING STUFF!! Sorry if it seems that I am rushing this a bit, but this is merely setup. The story hasn't even started in earnest, yet. Technically, we are still halfway through the first episode of the show. It just took 2 chapters. 
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF IT!!!!!! I love hearing from you all!!!!


	3. Heroes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette wonder at the return of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but something is wrong. Why does this not seem like it should? What is missing from this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really have an update schedule for this, so I don't know if I'm on time, but I think this is early. Enjoy!!

The day passed in a blur for Adrien. He had been so sure that he might have been Chat Noir. He even got close to telling Marinette his theory, but had chickened out of it. Now, he was kinda glad, since the two heroes had returned. 

They weren’t the same as they looked on the Ladyblog. Ladybug had longer hair, as well as longer ribbons holding them in the pigtails. Her suit was embellished with black markings, and looked a bit more armored than before. Chat Noir had wild hair, and moved with a certain cat-like grace. He still looked at Ladybug like she put the stars in the sky. Like Ladybug, his suit looked more utilitarian than it did before. Marinette could have a field day figuring out the suits and their individual functions, but she hadn’t responded to his texts all day. 

Adrien went through his classes with as much energy as he could, but that meant that when he got home, he was absolutely drained. However, he had a guest over. Alya was there, ready to start gushing about the heroes’ return. 

“Adrien! Can you believe it? They’re back!!”

Adrien smiled at her, heading to get a coffee from the kitchen. 

“Al, let him recover from his day. Hey, Adrien. Sorry for busting in like this, Alya has been vibrating with excitement all day.”

Ah, another guest was here as well, in the form of Nino. Adrien gave him another smile. “Sorry, I might be a bit slow today. Long classes. Longer night.”

Alya sat down “It’s fine. We should wait for Marinette, anyways. She might like to hear this. Bringing up the past shouldn’t be bad for you, right? I mean, you and Marinette always seemed to hide during the akuma attacks, so you aren’t learning anything about your own personal history, and I know you don’t like it when we do that without telling you first-”

“You’ll be fine, Alya. I’ve been looking through the Ladyblog archives for years now. I already know the fights very well.”

Alya nodded at him. Before she could say anything, the door opened and shut, letting Marinette in. She slumped down the door, and everyone heard a small sob, then she shouted “FUCKING HELL”

Adrien was at her side in a second “What’s wrong?”

Marinette looked up, seeing Alya and Nino for the first time, and obviously held something back in her answer. “It’s nothing. Just, um, Neil being a pest again. Really got under my skin today.”

Adrien narrowed his eyes, but refrained from asking questions. It was obvious she didn’t want to talk about what was really troubling her. 

Once dinner was on the stove and Marinette had calmed down a bit, they all started talking and catching up with each other. Alya and Nino left at a reasonable time, but Marinette said she was tired and went to bed early, leaving Adrien to wonder what bothered her so.

**MARINETTE**

Marinette woke up feeling decently well rested. She had wanted to tell Adrien what was really troubling her, but the night had been so fun, and she didn’t want to ruin that for him. So, she remained quiet.

Truth was, Marinette had been wondering the same question Adrien had been researching. She had seen him pouring over the Ladyblog footage, muttering under his breath the lines Chat Noir was saying, except he would say them at the same time, sometimes before. It became clear to Marinette what he was doing. So, she started doing the same. 

Marinette would look at the footage, and try to figure out what the lucky charm was, and how it was to help the situation. Most of the time, Marinette had managed to figure it out before Ladybug could. Marinette had begun asking the same question to herself that Adrien was asking about Chat Noir. Was Marinette Ladybug?

But then, yesterday, the two heroes had swung around Paris, and the people immediately welcomed back their heroes. 

They were back today, and Alya was more prepared. Marinette watched her friend try to talk with Ladybug on her phone. 

“Ladybug, it’s Alya here. I used to run the Ladyblog-”

“Ah, yes. That little site.” Ladybug barely bothered to look at Alya. “I don’t have time for little bloggers like you. Next?”

Alya visibly deflated at this, and when she didn’t walk away fast enough, Chat Noir grabbed her arm and dragged her away. Alya ended the broadcast quickly, and Marinette was left fuming. How dare Ladybug act that way? And after all she had done for Alya? What had changed in the last couple years that had made Ladybug act so cruelly?

Marinette narrowed her eyes. Something about Ladybug was… wrong, somehow. Marinette really didn’t like her. It was more than the fact that she dismissed Alya like that, Ladybug seemed off somehow. She was rude and dismissive. Marinette saw Nadya Chamack get dismissed as easily as if she were just a regular reporter, and not the anchor of the biggest reporting studio in Paris. It was almost as if…

Almost as if this weren’t the real Ladybug and Chat Noir.

Marinette had spent hours pouring over footage on the Ladyblog, spent days learning the mannerisms of Ladybug. This Ladybug that was here now was not acting like the Ladybug Marinette had studied. She wasn’t even close. It looked more like Ladybug was Chloe before she decided to act all nice to Marinette. 

Cursing, Marinette ran out of the apartment, nearly running into a distracted Adrien on her way out. 

“Adrien! What are you doing back from school?”

“It seems that the return of Ladybug and Chat Noir makes for poor attention spans. The school sent everyone home early. Where are you going?”

Marinette didn’t have school today, and usually took the opportunity to have a day off and maybe visit her parents at their bakery. But today, she was planning on relaxing. However, she was now running out of the apartment like it was on fire. 

The thought made Marinette look behind her for a second to make sure the apartment wasn’t actually on fire. 

“Have you been keeping up with the return of Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

Adrien nodded “We were watching it in class. And it looks like you were watching it. You didn’t turn off the computer.”

He was correct, the Ladyblog was still open, and Alya was still watching the heroes. 

“-decided that it was better for us to make ourselves scarce. So, we left Paris for a while. Recently, though, we started feeling homesick, so we came back.”

“And what do you intend on doing while you are here?”

Chat Noir answered this time “We will wait and see if any new villains appear. Hopefully not, but it might happen. We hope that by being a bit more public again, villains will try to take us down. We will take care of them with the smallest amount of collateral damage possible.”

“Miraculous Ladybug should be able to take care of any damage, right?”

Ladybug shared an interesting look with her partner before answering “Yes, of course. However, there is something that we will have to change. Before, I was called “Ladybug”. Now, though, I’ve decided on a change. Coccinelle will be my new name.”

Chat Noir stepped forward, frowning “And… I shall be known as… Chat Adjutor.”

Adrien frowned deeply. “That’s a little on the nose, isn’t it?”

Marinette was already moving, closing the Ladyblog and walking out the door. “I was going to go to Alya and talk about something.”

Adrien followed her, locking the door behind them “What do you want to tell her?”

“Don’t you think that they were acting strangely?”

“Yeah, I suppose they were. More rude, I guess?”

“Yep. They don’t act like they did a few years ago at all. I don’t think that they are the Ladybug and Chat Noir that Paris had before. I think they are pretending.”

Adrien nodded, following her. Marinette wondered at the new names. Coccinelle made sense. It was just “ladybug” in french. But Chat Adjutor? Turning, Marinette opened her mouth to ask Adrien, but he said “helper” before the question could pass her lips. 

‘Cat Helper’. That really was on the nose. 

Marinette and Adrien made it to the park where the two “heroes” were flocked with reporters. But Marinette wasn’t here for them. She made her way to Alya, who was on the edge of the group, and was giving the final remarks for the Ladyblog. She was too far away, so she couldn’t get anything more. 

“Alya!”

“Hey, girl! What brings you over here? You can get a better view from the TV.”

Marinette walked up to Alya. “Do you think that these two are the real deal? Like, are they the real Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

Alya shrugged “I don’t know why it wouldn’t be them. If someone else got their miraculous and they have malicious intent, I suppose that we don’t have much of a chance anyways.”

Marinette nodded “Let’s hope they don’t have malicious intent, then. I don’t think that’s them.”

“No, me neither.”

Suddenly, there was a commotion near the heroes. Marinette pulled out her phone and went to the local news, which had a good view. 

“I’m sorry, Paris. But we have to be going now. We can’t be followed around by all these reporters all the time, though. Here’s what will happen if you don’t leave us alone, or if you interfere with our work.”

Chat Adjutor pointed his claw at one of the reporters, and a dark pulse sparked from it, like cataclysm. He poked the reporter in the head, and he fell down, screaming. Ladybug pulled out her yo-yo, opening it like she was cleansing an akuma. She wiped her finger on the white light, and then poked the reporter in the same place. The reporter stood, and pulled a pure red sword from his jacket, where it could not have fit before.

Chaos erupted around the park. 

Nino came out of nowhere, grabbing Alyas’ arm. “Hey, Ade, hey Mari. You should probably get home. It looks like Ladybug and Chat Noir have gone a bit insane.”

Adrien grabbed Marinette and they both took off, running back to their apartment. While they ran, they saw an old man on the ground near their apartment. They both grabbed an arm, pulling him up. He was muttering under his breath “Thank you, old friend. I’m getting too old for this.” When he saw who was lifting him, he grabbed their arms, looking at them with sad eyes. “I wish I could explain more. I’m sorry. I hope you’re as good as you used to be.”

Then, with surprising strength, he pulled out of their grasp, and walked away. Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, shrugged, and went into their apartment, going to their respective rooms. 

Marinette was about to call her parents when she saw something on her nightstand, something that tickled the back of her memory, like something she should remember, but can’t. 

It was a small box with a red symbol on it. 

Marinette grabbed it and opened it. A ball of light rose out of it, and Marinette dropped the box, scrambling backwards in surprise. The light faded, revealing a strange creature floating in midair. It opened it’s eyes and looked at her in shock. 

“Marinette?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	4. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette get some old friends reintroduced to them.

Adrien sat on his bed, looking at the small black thing that was searching his room for cheese. He couldn’t wrap his head around it. What was this thing, and why was it searching for cheese?

Looking down, Adrien looked at the ring in his palm. It was silver, and rather nondescript. But, there was still something familiar about it. Adrien thought back, but couldn’t think of any memories that he knew of that contained this ring. So, it might be from his memory blank space, but there was nothing that every came back from then, contrary from what the doctors said should happen. 

“Did you not keep some camembert around here? Adrien, that is the biggest disappointment of the day, and I was just woken up from a VERY nice nap.”

The floating creature, Plagg, went up to Adriens’ face, looking into his eyes. Then, he grabbed Adriens’ face in a tight hug. Adrien was still thinking about what happened. 

Wait. 

Adrien looked back to the ring, imagining it black. Then, he imagined the flat section of the ring containing a neon green paw print. 

“What are you?” Adrien asks. Plagg pulls back, looking at Adrien with sad eyes.

**MARINETTE**

“We didn’t really want to, but once Ladybug and Chat Noir defeated Hawkmoth, they weren’t needed anymore, so we had to leave them. But, when we left, we had to wipe their memories. Now, though, something has happened that made the Guardian give us back.”

“Back?” Marinette sat back, looking at Tikki. “Does this mean that...”

“You were Ladybug in the fight against Hawkmoth.”

Marinette stood, walking towards the window. She stared out the window while she figured it out. Then, something occurred to her. 

“Who is the other Ladybug, then?”

Tikki flew to the window in front of Marinette so fast, Marinette was almost scared that she would fly out the window. 

“What other Ladybug?”

Before Marinette could answer, there was a knock at her door, and Adrien walked in. 

“Hey, did you get one of these strange black boxes in your room too?”

Adrien held up a copy of the box that was open on her bed. When Marinette nodded, Adrien smiled. 

“Before lover boy decides to start fangirling, do you have any cheese?”

A black floating thing flew from behind Adrien, joining Tikki by the window. Tikki gave him a small glare. 

“Plagg, Lutt and Brid are back.”

Plagg immediately sobered up, looking back at Adrien, then looked at Marinette. 

“You two need to sit down.”

Adrien and Marinette sat on her bed, while Plagg and Tikki talked quietly to each other. They floated in front of the two of them, and Tikki started speaking. 

“So, when the universe was created, the kwamis were brought into being. Some of us ended up here on Earth, and we bound ourselves to various pieces of jewelry so we can help keep humans safe against some of the more powerful forces in the universe. Plagg and I were uniquely created, so we were opposites. Creation against destruction. Good luck versus bad luck. However, there was something else that wasn’t considered beyond this.”

Plagg came forward “There was an unintended result from this binding of our powers. We intended to be opposites of each other, but we are forces of good. Well, I suppose that we are forces dedicated to maintaining life. Even when Hawkmoth was in power, he was never against life, he was just willing to use the lives of others. But since we set out to create a balance, we made another balanced set to balance the two of us. Two kwami who are identical to me and Tikki, but exist to counter life. They are forces of evil.”

“Lutt and Brid. We will need to get them out of Paris, or they will destroy it.”

Adrien leaned forward. “What did they do to the reporter earlier?”

Marinette pulls out her phone and pulls up a video of the event. Plagg and Tikki watch, their expressions making Marinette want to find a dark hole. 

“Chat Adjutor destroyed elements of his identity, and Coccinelle remade them into something else. Her power remains around him. Once her power leaves him, he will be a husk of his former self.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Adrien asks.

Plagg floats to the window “We can destroy her power in him, and then Ladybug can bring back the parts that were destroyed. You can’t really destroy an element of identity in that manner, but you can inhibit his identity behind a wall. It’s difficult to do. You have to be able to cataclysm an abstract concept with extreme accuracy.”

Marinette looked over to Adrien, who looked back, looking as scared as she felt. “We have to help, if we can.”

Adrien looked at Tikki “Can you restore our memories?”

Marinette perked up, but Tikki looked sadly at Adrien “We can’t, no. What we did was never meant to be undone. It took preparation, and it was done by the two of us directly. You’ll have to learn again. And you have to do it soon, before that reporter does any damage.”

Marinette and Adrien looked at each other, and Marinette touched her earrings. She saw that he was turning a ring on his finger. “Well, let’s get going, shall we?”

**ADRIEN**

After the two of them got a crash course on their powers, Adrien and Marinette stood. Marinette looked at Tikki and tried saying “Tikki, Spots On!”

A flash of magic covered Marinette, and she was left wearing the classic suit for Ladybug. She pulled out her yo-yo and started examining it. 

Adrien looked at his ring, then at Plagg, who was tapping his foot in midair. 

“Plagg, Claws Out!”

After another flash of magic, Adrien looked down to see himself in a black suit, and he felt something on his head. Somehow, his hearing was different as well, like it was coming from higher up… oh. His cat ears. They actually heard sound? Interesting… 

Adrien grabbed the baton from his back and it started vibrating like a phone. He answered, and Ladybug was on a screen that slid out. He looked up and saw that Ladybug also had a screen slide up, and she was doing a video call with him. 

“Well, that’s handy.” Ladybug put her yo-yo away. “Let’s go, shall we?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Adrien followed Ladybug as she jumped out the window. He extended the baton down to the ground, and Ladybug lassoed upwards and swung. Thusly, they made their way to the clearing where the reporters talked with the “heroes”. 

They found chaos there.

The reporter was still there, wielding the sword, swinging it at everybody who came close. Adrien landed next to Ladybug, and the reporters flocked around them. 

“Please! Please undo what you did!”

Adrien looked around. “Those two that you saw earlier are not heroes. They are not the real Ladybug and Chat Noir, but rather, they are fakes, and they are villains.”

The reporters looked confused, and stepped back. Alya and Nino were still there, but were staying back. Chloe had also arrived, and she looked over, a look of recognition coming over her as she leaned over and talked to Alya, who also looked up. 

Adrien turned and went towards the reporter with the sword. He held his baton like a fencing sword, and walked with Ladybug as she started talking. 

“Hello, sir. We are here to help. We can make things better.”

“NO! SHE TOLD ME THAT THERE IS NOBODY WHO CAN HELP ME!! SHE TOLD ME NOT TO TRUST ANYONE!!! SHE TOLD ME TO KILL YOU!!”

Adrien furrowed his brow. “Well, he is definitely dramatic.”

Ladybug looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. “Really? A joke?”

Adrien shrugged. “Well, you know, don’t want things to get too serious.”

“I’m going to tie him up, and then I guess you get to try that accurate cataclysm thing?”

Adrien was about to answer when a voice spoke in his head. “No, I will handle this one. You’ll end up killing him if you do it.”

Ladybug must have gotten a similar talk from Tikki, because she shook her head, looking a bit chagrined. 

She threw her yo-yo, tying his arms to his side. Adrien walked forward, and as he got closer, his suit suddenly started moving by itself. Adrien relaxed, letting it do whatever it needed to. Plagg moved Adriens’ arm up, and pointed a finger. Adrien called forth cataclysm, and a small dot appeared on the claw. Plagg sent the finger forward, poking the man in the center of the forehead. 

He went down, and started screaming again. The reporters surged forward again, but Adrien stepped back, holding up his hands. “Don’t worry, we aren’t done here.”

Ladybug stepped forward, and instead of wiping the power from the yo-yo onto his forehead like Coccinelle, she just placed the whole yo-yo to his forehead. He relaxed, but Ladybug kept holding the yo-yo to his head. 

“Excuse me!”

Adrien looked up to see Chat Adjutor walking toward him. Plagg hissed in his mind. “Don’t let him interrupt Tikki, Adrien.”

Adrien stepped forward. “Hey, how you doing, Chat Adjutor? Chat Noir. Big fan. I love your work.”

Chat Adjutor scowled. “Who are you? Some sort of cosplayer? I’m the real Chat Noir, not you.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow. “Really? I don’t think that the real Chat Noir would do that to an innocent man.”

“We have important business to do! We can’t have reporters interrupting us all the time!”

Adrien nodded “Oh, I agree. Hey, reporters, could you refrain from talking to us when we are busy?”

The reporters looked at each other, then slowly nodded. 

“There you go. They’re not going to bother us. Any other bad excuses?”

A hand landed on Adriens’ shoulder, and he turned to see Coccinelle glaring at him. “What are you doing here? You’ll ruin EVERYTHING!!”

She then flung him back towards Ladybug. She was just finishing up with the reporter, snapping shut the yo-yo. “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know, we have the others here with us, and they are not happy at all.”

Ladybug helped him up, and they faced off against the other two. Chat Adjutor stepped forward. “I will give you two this one single warning: Stay out of our business.”

Adrien stepped forward. “Nah. I’m nosy by nature.”

Chat Adjutor sighed, then extended his baton, slamming it into Adriens’ knee, hyperextending it. Adrien yelled, falling over. Ladybug grabbed him and helped him up as the other two left. The reporters stepped forward, and Ladybug waved them away. “We are a bit out of practice when it comes to fighting super powered people.”

Ladybug helped Adrien across the street and into an alleyway. A sudden voice made them stop. It was distinctively feminine, and it was very concerned. 

“Marinette? Adrien? What are you two doing back in those suits? I thought you the gave it up?”

Adrien looked over, and saw someone he never expected to see in an alleyway confronting them, and calling the two heroes by their secret identities. 

Ladybug stiffened as she realized who it was and what it meant. 

After all, this went a long way about explaining why she was suddenly so nice to Marinette. 

“Are you two going to gawk there all day, or do you want me to help you two out of here?” Chloe crossed her arms. “I’m waiting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who guessed that about Chloe? Be honest.
> 
> Also, let me know what you think!!


	5. Chloe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several years ago, Chloe witnessed something that changed a lot in her life. Since then, she had been devoted to helping her two new friends, and keeping an eye on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is important, and hopefully good to read. I enjoyed it, since I love me some good ol' fashioned Chloe Character Development.

**Several years ago**

Chloe watched the two heroes fly across the roofs, and she followed. Hawkmoth was just defeated, and Chloe wanted to thank the two heroes for keeping the city safe. And also to get a selfie with Ladybug, and Chat Noir, she supposed. He did help, even if he did vanish for a while during the fight.

Chloe followed them as best she could on her bike (Alix had managed to convince her to get a bike, in order to keep her in shape). She watched them enter into a random alley, and she stopped at the entrance, and started making sure she was presentable. These were the two heroes of Paris, she had to look her best. 

Once she was satisfied, she turned the corner, she stopped fast, her foot scraping on the ground. 

Marinette and Adrien were in the middle of two creatures whirling around them, leaving streams of light behind them. Marinette seemed to have heard her, and she looked over, locking eyes with Chloe. Then, the light gave a strong pulse, and Marinette fell to the ground, followed by Adrien. 

One of the creatures stopped, and saw Chloe. It was about to scream, but the other one, a black one that looked like a cat, put a hand (flipper? Paw?) over its’ mouth, then flew right up to Chloe.

“You are Adriens’ friend, right?”

Chloe nodded, and the other one, red with black spots, flew up to her. 

“We can’t do that process again, so we will need to depend on your word.” The black one groaned and flew off, earning a glare from the red one. “You cannot tell anyone what happened here. In fact, you should try to forget this ever happened.”

Chloe raised an eyebrow “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I mean, it’s obvious. Chat Noir was really Adrien all along, and Ladybug was… Marinette...”

Suddenly, everything made so much more sense to Chloe. No matter how much Chloe tried to make Ladybug a friend, she never treated Chloe as more than another citizen. Now, Chloe realized that it was because she had spent YEARS being extremely rude to Ladybug. 

Suddenly, the black one flew right up to her face “I am giving you a task, Chloe Bourgeois. These two will be extremely confused for a while. It is up to you to make sure they can live a good life. Watch over them both.” From the look it was giving her, Chloe knew that it knew how she treated Marinette.

The red one nodded when Chloe looked over, sealing her fate. But, after thinking on it for a bit, Chloe realized that she couldn’t keep making fun of Marinette forever. At one point, Chloe had to admit to herself that Marinette was actually the exact person Chloe wanted to be. At one point, Chloe would have to start modeling herself after the designer, instead of just trying to make Marinette more like Chloe. Today was a good time to do that.

“OK. I promise. I will watch over the two of them.”

The two seemed satisfied, and went back to Adrien and Marinette. 

“You might want to grab onto something, Ms. Bourgeois.”

Chloe whirled around and found herself looking at an old man in a hawaiian shirt, who was holding two boxes. He grabbed onto a corner of a building, and Chloe mimicked him on another corner. Then, the entire world started changing around her. The red thing sent out a pulse, and a car appeared right next to a nearby lamppost. The black one sent out a wave of… something, which hit and destroyed the front of the car, which set itself at the lamppost. 

Adrien and Marinette floated over near to the lamppost, and the black one sighed, went up to each of their heads, and placed his hand over their foreheads, which suddenly started bleeding. If Chloe hadn’t been there to witness what just happened, she would believe that the two of them were victims of a car crash.

**Several weeks later**

Chloe was excited. Adrien and Marinette were going to be back to school today, and she could start making good on her promise to the two… things. 

As she entered the room, she found herself overcome with emotion as she looked at the two of them. She was almost about to cry as she hugged Marinette, who looked confused. Well, that was maybe too much of a change from before. Especially if she had forgotten everything about the last two years. That was the height of when Chloe was mean to Marinette. 

Chloe set herself up so she could help the two of them. She used her experience in business to become landlord of a large apartment building, and offered one of them to Adrien and Marinette (Who were obviously in love, and would not admit it). She helped the two of them through college, helped them through some hard times, but she couldn’t get to the level of friendship that Alya and Nino had. Even the concept of that made Chloe feel terrible for how she treated Marinette.

When the two heroes made their dramatic reveal, Chloe was confused as hell. She had thought that they wouldn’t be back anytime soon, and they even seemed to be Marinette and Adrien. However, when Chloe was at the crowd where the two heroes were talking to reporters, she saw Adrien and Marinette, so she knew something was wrong. 

Chloe had remained in contact with the old man, who was known as Master Fu. She ran to his massage parlor, wondering what he had to say about it.

“Master Fu! What happened? I thought that the miraculous of Ladybug and Chat Noir were put away!”

Master Fu shook himself, just as surprised as she was as he sat in front of the TV. “Those are not the same miraculous. I still have the two of them. I keep a close eye on them after my failure of the Butterfly and Peacock miraculous.”

“Then who are they?” Chloe pointed at the TV.

“They are people who would do their best to destroy all miraculous. And also all life. It’s not a good omen to see them here.”

Chloe paled as she listened to Master Fu. Two powerful superbeings were intent on destroying life? How would they defeat them?

“We need Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Master Fu shook his head. “They have given up their miraculous.”

“Give them back! We need them!” Chloe looked around the room. “I’ll give it back to them, if I need to.”

Master Fu stood faster than Chloe would have expected. “I cannot give them back. They have lost all memory of the experience, they would have to start entirely over.”

Chloe looked down. “They are the best way to defend against the new threat. I know that I once held a miraculous, but I was never all that good at it. Rena Rouge and Carapace were good, but they weren’t good enough. We need Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Master Fu narrowed his eyes in the most angry act Chloe had ever seen from the old man. “I need to think about how best to fight this new threat. I need peace.”

Chloe felt her eyes tear up at the rebuke, but she walked out of the parlor. 

A while later, Chloe found herself looking at the real Ladybug and Chat Noir as they fought the corrupted reporter, feeling both confused and excited. However, at the end of that fight, Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor both appeared, defeating the two of them with ease.

Chloe ran to an alleyway that she thought they would go to. They followed soon after, and Chloe stepped forward. 

“Marinette? Adrien? What are you two doing back in those suits? I thought you the gave it up?”

She couldn’t keep the concern from her voice, and crossed her arms to make it seem like she was more demanding than she felt at the moment.

“Are you two going to gawk there all day, or do you want me to help you two out of here? I’m waiting.”

Chloe helped Adrien out of the alleyway, dodging away from the reporters. She took them up to her apartment, setting them down onto the couch.

“Take what you need. Adrien, I’m going to get some ice for your knee. Marinette, would you like a glass of water?”

Marinette nodded, looking a bit scared that Chloe knew about them. Chloe didn’t judge her, she would probably be a bit intimidated too.

Chloe sat down in front of the two of them, her serious face on. “I knew that you two were Ladybug and Chat Noir at the end of your first tenure. I kept your secret for that long, and I will keep it for longer if I have to. But, I do recommend that you tell Alya and Nino. It was obvious that you two didn’t tell them the first time, but I think you should. It is up to you, and those creatures that you two carry around with you, that’s just my opinion.”

The red thing flew up from Marinettes’ purse, looking at Chloe. “Thank you for watching over them, Chloe. I suppose that I should introduce myself. I am Tikki, Kwami of Ladybug.”

The black one flew up as well. “And I am Plagg, Kwami of Chat Noir.”

Chloe nodded at them. Tikki pulled Plagg away, and they started talking among themselves. Marinette and Adrien started discussing Chloes’ suggestion, so Chloe took Marinettes’ cup to refill it and grab one for Adrien. When she got back, they were all talking among each other. Chloe sat there awkwardly, waiting for them to finish while also not listening in. She settled on just playing around on her phone. 

They eventually came to a conclusion, and looked back up to Chloe. “I think it would be a good idea to tell them. It was actually nearly a unanimous decision.” Adrien said.

“It was really just Tikk here that we had to convince, and even then it wasn’t super hard. We just also had to figure out logistics.”

Chloe nodded. “So, how do you want to do it?”

“Well, I figured that we should just call them over and tell them.” Adrien said. Marinette nodded along with him.

Chloe shrugged. “Sure. I’ll tell them to come over, and you can tell them however you want to.”

After a couple minutes, Alya and Nino came into the apartment. Alya gave Chloe an impressive glare. “You better have a good reason for calling me over here. I was in the middle of editing the footage from today for the Ladyblog. If it isn’t something to do with Ladybug and Chat Noir, I am going to be SO mad at you.”

“Well then, I’ll get you two some water. I think you’ll need it.” Chloe left Alya looking like she was about to tear the entire building down when Ladybug walked out of a side room. 

“Hello, Alya. I’m the real Ladybug, and this is the real Chat Noir.” Ladybug sat down on a couch, and Chat Noir followed close behind her.

Alya looked between Chloe and the two heroes, her mouth agape. When Chloe held out the cup of water, Alya took it and immediately took a long gulp. Nino took his as he stared at Chat Noir, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. 

“We have returned to fight against the new “heroes” in Paris, and we might need your help this time.”

Alya leaned forward. “I’m honored that you came to us for help, but… why us?”

Ladybug closed her eyes and took a steadying breath. “Because of who we are under these masks.”

The two of them released their transformations, revealing Adrien and Marinette sitting on the couch. Alya and Nino both started asking questions, and Chloe quietly sidled away. She’d come back when they were a bit more composed. 

When Chloe entered her bedroom, she saw something on the bedside table. It was a small black box, sitting on top of a small piece of paper. She held the paper into the light to read it.

_Chloe, I am sorry to ask this of you_  
but I am going to need a favor from  
you. In this box is the tool you will  
need to help Ladybug and Chat Noir  
to fight against the two new threats.  
Please keep them safe. If you need  
more help, let me know and I will  
send more help. Thank you.  
Fu. 

Chloe looked back at the box, and realized what was inside. She would definitely have words with that old man. But for now, she had two other friends to guide through a large reveal, and two more friends to help get back on their feet. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been one for dramatic reveals, can you tell?


	6. Secrets and Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang of friends all talk about where to go from here, and begin to make plans against Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one isn't an April Fools joke, don't worry.

Marinette sat in front of Alya and Nino, feeling tense. Adrien sat next to her, looking like he was thinking of running out of the room. The only thing that kept them in the room was the fact that Alya and Nino looked like they were about to do the same.

“You were always Ladybug and Chat Noir? Where were you?” Alya leaned forward, eyes darting between Marinette and Adrien. Nino just sat back, looking like he was still trying to process.

“No. We only just got the miraculous back.” Marinette looked down for a second before looking back at Alya.

“Back? You had them before?”

Marinette looked at Adrien, who was looking back at her, letting her take the lead. “…Yes. It seems that we did. But, we gave them up after Hawkmoth was defeated, but it came with a price.”

Nino suddenly sat up straight. “That’s the reason you two lost your memories!!”

Adrien nodded. “Yep. It seems that the price of giving up a miraculous is losing our memories.”

“But we never-” Alya started, but a red blur shot at her, making her shriek and jump back a bit. Tikki gave her a look that Marinette couldn’t decipher before returning to her purse.

Nino looked at Adrien, a smile growing on his face. “I’ve been friends with Chat Noir for years now!! The hero of Paris, who helped take down… oh… I see…”

Alya swatted him on the arm, and Marinette looked over at Adrien, who was coming to the same realization they all just had. Adrien had to take down his own father. He was the reason his father was in jail.

Nino cleared his throat, changing the subject. “Why didn’t you tell us before?”

“Well, I couldn’t tell you. I don’t seem to be able to remember a small period of time.” Marinette raised a sarcastic eyebrow at Nino, who stuck his tongue out at her. 

“Well, why are you telling us now?” Alya fiddled with the hem of her shirt, her eyes drifting between the two heroes. “I mean, you spent two years without telling anyone, why start now? And why tell Chloe first?” A defeated look entered Alyas’ demeanor. Marinette realized what the problem was. 

“We never told Chloe.”

“She’s right. I kinda found out by accident.” Everyone looked over to see Chloe standing in the doorway of her room, looking a bit more disheveled than she seemed earlier. “I was there when they lost their memories, then-”

This time, it was Plagg who shot towards Chloe, sending her off balance. He whispered something in her ear, and she schooled her expression before rejoining the conversation. 

“You found out by accident? And you didn’t hold it over Marinettes’ head?” Alya narrowed her eyes. 

“It’s a long story that involves personal feelings and some things that a floating god just told me I can’t tell anyone.” That last comment earned her a hard glare from Plagg and Tikki, who was looking out from Marinettes’ purse. Chloe gave them a flat stare in return. 

“Ooooookaaaaayyyyy… We still need to address why you are telling us this now.” Nino looked at Adrien. “I mean, I’m glad that you told us, dude, but what’s different?”

“We are probably going to need some extra help this time around.” 

Alya suddenly sat up straight. “Like Rena Rouge and Carapace?”

“And Queen Bee?” Chloe said.

“Sure. You might need some help like that, or were you thinking of another type of help?”

Marinette perked up. “Do you think we can get them back?”

Nino was about to answer, but Alya talked over him. “It might be something to talk to you kwamis about. They would know better than us.”

Nino looked at Alya, who gave him a hard look, and he slowly said “Yeah, your kwamis would know better, dudes. You should ask them.”

Marinette looked at Tikki, who shrugged in a ‘we’ll talk later’ way. Adrien had just looked at Plagg, and got the same answer, and he made a ‘whatever’ move. Marinette nodded, and turned back to her friends. “I guess that we should talk a bit more about how we can take care of the problem at hand.”

Alya was about to answer when her phone alerted her. She pulled it out, and stood quickly. “You two need to see this. Chloe, we need the news.”

Chloe turned on her TV, and they watched as Nadje Chamack hid behind a car as people in the background seemed to riot. 

“-have begun to start fires around the city. We don’t know exactly what happened here, but it seems to be similar to what happened with Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor earlier today. They seem to have been turned into violent husks of their former selves. We haven’t had an explanation of what happens to make them like this, but this much is clear: we need Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

Marinette looked at Adrien, who looked back and nodded. “Alya, Nino, Chloe, meet back up with us at the bakery.” 

With that, they jumped out of the window as they transformed and went to the crowd of affected people.

**ALYA**

Alya watched her two friends vault away, thinking on what she had learned. “I wish it were harder to accept that, you know?”

Nino nodded “I mean, now I know, it is kinda obvious.”

“It was still kinda hard for me to get over the fact that they were Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Chloe stepped forward. 

“Yeah, but we have been friends with them for longer.” Ninos’ eyes widened and he turned to Chloe. “Sorry, that sounded rude. I only meant-”

“I know. I wasn’t a very good friend for a long while.” Chloe looked straight forward. “I couldn’t get closer to them recently because I could never figure out if I was trying to be friends with them because of a sense of duty or because I actually wanted to be. If I were to be their friends, I wanted it to be because I wanted to of my own free will, not because I know why they lost their memories.”

Alya put a hand on Chloes’ shoulder. “I think you would be a good friend, to be honest.”

Behind them, someone cleared their throat. Alya and Nino both whirled around, but Chloe just spun like she was in a period drama and her mother told her to marry the pretentious rich dude. “Hello, Fu. I figured that you would wait a bit longer before this.”

An old man, presumably Fu, was sitting on the couch, pouring tea into cups that Chloe did not own, from a kettle Chloe did not own, and with water that Chloe had no opportunity to warm up.

“Hello, Chloe. Hello, Rena Rouge, and Carapace. My name is Master Fu. And it seems that the situation has gotten much worse.”

**ADRIEN**

Adrien vaulted the last little bit over a building before he hit the mob. He perched on the edge of a building, and Ladybug landed next to him, nearly falling off the building. Adrien laughed a bit. “I remember Ladybug being a lot more graceful. It’s kinda funny that she is you, the clumsiest person I’ve ever met.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Let’s get this over with. First of all, how exactly are we going to do this?”

Adrien looked over the edge of the building, furrowing his brow. “I don’t know. There’s so many of them. Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor must have been very busy for the last several hours.”

Ladybug narrowed her eyes, watching the people walking around below. Adrien followed her gaze, trying to figure out anything that was being accomplished by these wandering people. So far, it was just random destruction. 

Ladybug suddenly just jumped off of the building, landing next to one of the people, studying her. The lady didn’t make any move against Ladybug, but instead kicked at a car mirror. Adrien landed next to Ladybug, and the lady screamed and started attacking him. Adrien grabbed her arms, and gently tripped her to the ground. Ladybug held her arms down.

“Cataclysm her, I have her.”

Adriens’ suit started moving by itself again, and Plaggs’ voice spoke in his head again. “Pay close attention to everything I’m about to do. Once I’m confident that you can do it without killing anyone, I’ll let you take over.”

Adrien focused on the cataclysm, and felt it travel from around his entire body into his hand. Plagg extended his finger, and the power channeled into the tip of the finger, manifesting as a small ball of black power. As soon as he touched it to the forehead of the lady, something slammed into Adriens’ side. Adrien could barely keep his finger on the forehead, but Ladybug had to stand and defend Adrien as he destroyed Coccinelles influence. 

After a small little bit, Adrien was done, and when he turned around, he saw that Ladybug had taken down 7 more people, all of whom were bound with a long stretch of yo-yo, which was also wrapped around various streetlamps to block more people who were all trying to get to Adrien. 

“Ladybug, I’m done!”

Ladybug walked over to the lady and started her part of the process. Adrien was about to do the next person, but Plagg spoke in his mind again. “Adrien, don’t start another one. I need to recharge. Get Marinette once you two are done and you can both recharge. Do you have cheese at your apartment?”

Adrien shook his head, and Plagg made Adrien make an exasperated move. Adrien watched the other people as Ladybug finished up. Once she was done, two shapes landed in the middle of the netted area. Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor casually watched Ladybug straighten from the lady, who was laying down confused out of her mind. 

“This was just a taste of what we can do. Want to see more?” Chat Adjutor held up his baton, and Coccinelle held up her yo-yo. A dark set of lines shot out from the baton, and a set of white lines shot from the yo-yo. They all connected to all the people who were affected, and all the people shook their heads, like they were trying to wave off some flies. “Enjoy your night. Just know that next time you try to be heroes, we will be waiting.”

They left, leaving Adrien and Ladybug in the middle of a street, both their miraculous beeping. Adrien looked over to Ladybug, raising an eyebrow. “Do you know if Hawkmoth ever acted like that?”

Ladybug furrowed her eyebrows, looking around as she unwound her yo-yo from the streetlamps. “We should go, we are about to lose our transformations.”

Adrien followed Ladybug until they arrived at a building near the Dupain-Cheng bakery, and they ducked into an alleyway to transform back.

**MARINETTE**

Marinette led Adrien into the bakery to find their friends. Alya, Nino, and Chloe were sitting in a booth, talking among themselves until Nino saw them and waved at them. Before they could reach the booth, someone stepped from behind the counter and Adrien tensed up.

The man was tall and thin, with longer hair than Adrien. He looked down at them with a regal air that just made him look like an asshole. He sneered at Adrien. 

“Well, if it isn’t the Traitor Golden Boy of Paris. How’s papa doing? Still thinking about how to terrorize Paris? How about you? Trying to get him out of jail?”

Adrien stared back at him. “Hello Felix. Still buying suits that make you look like a horror game villain?”

Marinette looked between the two of them, trying to remember if Adrien ever mentioned a Felix before. But when Marinette was about to give up, there was a shout from the back. 

“Mari!! Oh my god, it’s been so long!!”

Marinette looked over to the counter and saw Brigette, her distant cousin, sitting on the counter. Marinette almost started screaming back. It had been years since she had last seen Brigette. They used to be as close as could be, but they had lost contact in recent years. 

Marinette looked back at Adrien, who was in the middle of a stern staring contest with Felix. He didn’t seem to notice that anybody was in the restaurant beyond the two of them, so Marinette waved at her friends and went over to Brigette. 

“I’m so glad you’re back in town!” Marinette hugged her, and Brigette gave her an energetic hug back. 

“Me and Felix are just stopping by to say hi to your parents, but we have to go now. Felix? Ah… I see. Felix kinda doesn’t like Adriens’ role in the whole Hawkmoth thing. I’ll take care of it.”

Brigette walked up to Felix and took his arm, pulling him away from Adrien, who looked like he was about to punch Felix in the face. 

“We really must meet up sometime, Mari! I’ll text you!”

Marinette waved at Brigette, and turned to her friends. “Well, that was one part fun and one part horrifically awkward! Who wants some food?”

She sat next to Adrien, and grabbed his hand under the table, offering her support, and he looked over to her and smiled. 

“I’m thinking that a chocolate croissant would be good.” Chloe said, breaking the tension.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think of this new chapter! Please?


	7. A Change in the Tide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felix La'Courte reveals why he is back in Paris, and the rest of the team has to deal with the consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... am sorry.

Alya looked at Chloe as they left. “A chocolate croissant? Really? That was your big icebreaker?”

Chloe shrugged as she waved goodbye at the retreating shapes of Adrien and Nino. Marinettes’ parents had taken Marinette in to chat while the rest of them went back home. “Adrien had told me about Felix a while ago. Felix is not the nicest person to anyone, and ever since the whole Hawkmoth thing, he has just been the worst towards Adrien.”

Alya shook her head at that. “He wouldn’t dare to do anything towards Adrien.”

“He already has.” Chloe held out her phone, showing Alya a recent headline.

__

ADRIEN AGRESTE: AID TO HAWKMOTH?

__

Alya read the rest of the article, which was a bunch of made up stuff about how Adrien was helping Hawkmoth the whole time. Alya made it halfway before she had to stop reading and tried handing the phone back to Chloe.

“What is he trying to prove here? Everyone who cares enough should know that this is fake.”

“Most people take all of their information for granted from the news. If someone gives a bunch of information about something, there will always be people who believe it. You aren’t mad enough to have made it as far as I did. Keep going.”

Alya kept reading, and found something that she had expected to see at some point, but it still made her start trembling in rage.

_‘Adrien has spent the last few years as the roommate to one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She is a fashion student at the moment, but in their spare time, I have reason to believe that they are together planning the next step of the ultimate plan that Hawkmoth set in motion years ago. What is the next step of this plan? Whatever it is, we must either be prepared to stop it, or be prepared to deal with the outcome.”_

Alya cocked back her hand to throw the phone, and Chloe deftly took her phone from her hand and replaced it with her empty cup from the bakery. Alya threw the cup into the wall as hard as she could.

“HOW DARE HE? HOW DARE HE IMPLY THAT MARINETTE HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THAT? HOW DARE HE IMPLY THAT ADRIEN HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THAT? ADRIEN IS-”

Chloe grabbed Alya and slapped her hand over Alyas’ mouth, stopping the rant. Some dude opened his window, shouting at them to shut up before slamming it down again. Alya nodded her head to tell Chloe that she would be quiet, but as soon as Chloes’ hand left Alyas’ mouth, Alya started hissing some VERY nasty things about Felix La’courte. 

“Alya. I know all of that stuff. I was just warning you that there is a storm coming for the two of them. Felix only runs one of the most influential papers in Paris and can change the tide of how Paris views the two of them.”

Alya let Chloe lead her to the apartment that Alya and Nino shared. Alya started pacing in the elevator, trying to figure out how to counteract what Felix did.

“I’ll make a new story that explains what Adrien was doing during Hawkmoths’ reign. I can explain that I know them personally, and that they are not really bad people at all.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, grabbing Alyas’ arm to stop her pacing. “Alya, stop. If you print something that explains the truth, people will start thinking that you are trying to cover for them, and Felix can just add to his story saying that you are also part of it. Marinette and Adrien are going to have a hard enough time getting through this as is. We don’t need you to go down as well. They are going to need all the help they can get.”

Alya looked at the ground, fingering her necklace. “You’re right, of course. Damn it, Chloe, you gotta stop doing that.”

“Being right?” 

“Stopping me from being as straightforward as I can be. Sure, you’re almost always right, but it’s a lot more boring.”

Chloe gave a short laugh. “Well, you know how it is. I was raised by a politician. I know how to play the long game to bring someone down as low as they can be brought.”

**ADRIEN**

Adrien and Nino walked down the street together, talking about the events of the day.

“You’re sure you and Mari have things covered? It looked pretty dicey earlier today.”

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t know. If we only had to deal with the crowd that appeared today, then give us a while and we could take care of it. But since Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor just appeared in the middle of it, not looking concerned at all, and then purged everyone at once… I think there’s a different endgame than we thought.”

Nino nodded. “That’s what we were talking about before you and Mari arrived and made everything awkward.”

“Hey, come on, that’s hardly my fault.” Adrien bumped Nino with his shoulder. “That was all Felix. Why is he in town now? Last time we saw each other, my father was on his way to jail and Felix was saying that he was never going to come back again. Also, the whole ‘I was complicit with my fathers’ actions’ thing. He genuinely thinks that I was involved.”

Ninos’ phone chimed, and when he checked it, he stumbled before getting his poker face in place. “Well, I think that you might find that to be a common occurrence now.” He held up his phone, showing Adrien a news article written by Felix. 

“What is this? He really printed this for everyone to read?”

Nino whistled. “He’s really out to get you, isn’t he?”

Adrien nodded, his expression sour. That was a great way to ruin his night. Not only was his cousin in town, he was also trying to ruin Adrien. Lovely. And compound that with Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor, and this was a cocktail of disaster.

Adrien and Nino walked in silence for while as they let recent events settle down on them. They rounded the corner and stopped dead in their tracks. 

A crowd of people were standing outside of the apartment building where he and Marinette lived. They were all shouting and chanting his name and Marinettes’ name, and they did not look very friendly at all.

Nino grabbed Adriens’ arm, trying to pull him away. Adrien stayed rooted in place, looking at all of the people who were out for him. They were there to see him arrested, if not… worse. But his only thought was for Marinette. Her name was in the article too, which meant that she was also in danger. Did she know?

Adrien turned to Nino. “Marinette. Go get her, and let her know about the article and this mob.”

Before Nino could ask what Adrien was going to do, someone from the crowd shouted “THERE HE IS!! GET HIM!”

Adrien turned to see the entire mob running towards him. “Nino, hit me. Hit me and I’ll run. They can’t know that you are with me.”

Nino nodded, and punched Adrien in the gut, shouting “Traitor!” as Adrien ran away. Nino followed until the group caught up, then Nino vanished into the tumble of bodies.

Adrien ran as fast as he could, opening his jacket for Plagg to fly next to his face. “Plagg, how fast can you transform me?”

“Faster than you’ll need here.”

“Good. Plagg...” Adrien turned a corner into an alleyway, ducking into a dark corner. “Claws out!”

The flash of green magic covered him in his black suit in the blink of an eye, and he crouched deeper into the darkness. The mob ran by, looking for his bright blue jacket he had been wearing before, and thus missing his dark grey suit he wore now.

Adrien remained crouched for a while before he jumped straight up, landing on top of the building. He ran several blocks over before stopping on a roof, leaning against a wall. He stayed there, huffing, before Ladybug swooped down onto the rooftop, landing in a run which ended with her slamming into him, hugging him tightly. 

“Are you ok, Adrien?” Ladybug murmured into his chest. Adrien nodded, refusing to look in her eyes. “Adrien. Look at me.”

Adrien looked down into her eyes, which were brimming with tears. Adrien looked away. “I’m sorry, Mari. I-”

Her cool fingers pulled his face back to look at her. “Adrien. It’s fine. We’ll get through it. Together. I’m here for you, and I always will be.”

Adrien nodded, and almost started leaning in before there was shouting from the street. 

“Where is he? I’m going to kill him!” Followed by a chorus of shouts. The mob had made it to the street below them. 

Ladybug narrowed her eyes, and ran for the edge of the roof, jumping off to land in front of the crowd. Adrien was close behind her. 

“Seriously, guys? You’re forming a mob to kill someone?” Ladybug stared everyone down until they looked away and fidgeted with their various blunt objects. “Adrien Agreste is not in league with Hawkmoth. Chat Noir and I specifically talked to him about it after we took down Gabriel Agreste, and he was horrified by what his father had done.”

One of the men stepped forward. “He was obviously acting! Nobody could have lived with a man like that without knowing!”

Adriens stepped forward so he was next to Ladybug. “Gabriel Agreste was already a vile man long before he became Hawkmoth. It’s not a stretch to think that Adrien was just used to his father being an asshole all the time. And look at all of those ‘business trips’ he went on to keep himself isolated.”

The crowd murmured among themselves as Ladybug spoke again.

“What would Adrien have gained from terrorizing the entire city?”

“His mother.” A cold, sneering voice spoke out from the crowd. Felix La’Courte stepped out from the crowd. “In an interview with the then captured Hawkmoth, he admitted that the whole reason he was doing all that was because he wanted to bring his mother back to life with the power of your miraculous. What did Adrien have to gain from that? The last person in his life who truly loved him.”

Adrien went cold. He had specifically avoided looking at anything that his father had said after he was captured. He never knew…

“You are the one who posted the article, aren’t you?” Ladybug demanded. When Felix nodded, she continued. “How well do you know Adrien Agreste? Because after the incident with Hawkmoth, I’ve kept my eye on him. I even went so far as to become a friend of his. I can tell you this: he hates everything that his father did.”

Felix narrowed his eyes at her. “You became the friend of a traitor to Paris? You became the friend of the son of a terrorist? And you stand there calling yourself a hero? Maybe Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor are not the only superpowered individuals we need to be concerned with.”

Adrien stiffened. This wasn’t going to be good. “My lady…”

Felix continued. “Perhaps we should take care of this problem ourselves instead of letting two corrupt heroes take down two criminals. Because at this point, who can tell the difference between the two?”

The crowd started murmuring, and Adrien grabbed Ladybugs’ hand. “My lady, we need to go. Now.”

Ladybug nodded as the crowd started running forward, past the still smiling Felix as he stood there watching them. 

Adrien lifted them on his baton and tilted it so they landed on a roof and started running. “I think we might be in a bit of trouble, Mari. What do you think?”

They continued running until they reached the Dupain-Cheng bakery. There, they transformed back and ran inside. “Maman, Papa!!” Marinette cried. 

“We know, honey. We are packed up and ready to go.” Tom and Sabine came down the stairs, carrying several bags. Adrien rushed forward, grabbing some from them. “We have a place we can go, but you two need to stay here. Don’t look so surprised, you told us last time too. And we managed to put two and two together this time. Find somewhere safe, and keep in contact.”

Adrien helped them to the car as Marinette hugged them goodbye. As they drove off, shouts started coming from a nearby street. Marinette snapped to attention and grabbed Adrien, pulling him to a side street, where they crouched and watched as a small group of people approached the bakery. One of them shouted about how the parents needed to be punished for letting Marinette turn into someone so despicable, and they all threw rocks at the windows until they were almost entirely shattered. 

Marinette turned away and sobbed, but Adrien watched the whole thing. As the group left, he felt tears running down his own face. How were they going to fight Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor with the city acting like this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has a reason, don't worry. Also, those were a small group of the larger population of Paris. You'll see what the rest of Paris has to say about things soon enough.


	8. Family Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette have to deal with the full ramifications of what Felix did. Adrien has the return of a few memories when he visits his childhood home. A few of them... not so fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be a bit late on my next chapter. I have a test this week, so I'm gonna study instead of writing. But I won't leave you waiting for too long, barring any emergencies.

Alya sat across from Marinette and Adrien, sipping her glass of tea. The two sat across from her, sipping from cups of their own. They had just returned from the bakery, and they both looked like they were about to just break down and start weeping. Alya almost wished they would. 

Nino walked back in, holding plates of pasta that he had made for them. “You two know that you are more than welcome here, right?”

Adrien nodded, but then shook his head. “We can’t. People will see, and they will target you next. If Felix even finds out that we were here, he would attack you two next. He’s already ruined me and Mari, don’t let him ruin you two as well.”

Alya was about to speak, but Marinette spoke up. “Als, my school contacted me tonight. They said that I wasn’t allowed to go until things are figured out. They were too concerned about riots based on my presence.”

Alya narrowed her eyes and set her mouth. “I will fight against him using Madam Switch.”

Marinette gaped at her. “You are Madam Switch?”

Even Adrien looked surprised. Nino just rolled his eyes and set the plates down.

See, Paris had a news reporter who nobody knew the identity of. This reporter was known to root out the true details of various events that people kept trying to cover up. There were a few who thought of the reporter as nothing more than a conspiracy artist, but most people knew that the facts presented were real. 

This person was Madam Switch. And this person was Alya herself. 

Alya would spend hours upon hours searching deep on the internet finding what she could about various controversial topics, and always found more information than what was officially reported. 

She had spent the couple of hours before Adrien and Marinette had arrived researching everything she could about Felix. She had already found several things that, when combined with each other, could seriously damage his reputation. But Alya didn’t want to damage his reputation. 

She wanted to destroy him. 

And Alya knew that he had something in his past that could do that. She just had to find it. 

“Where are you two going to go?” Alya asked the two of them.

Marinette shrugged. Adrien thought for a second before answering. “We could stay in my old house. The officials never did find my fathers’ lair. But I did. It would make a perfect area to stage our superhero antics.”

Alya nodded. That sounded pretty good, except for one thing. “Wouldn’t it be obvious? I mean, there would be lights on and noise coming from the house.”

Nino raised his hand. “I think I could help with that. Get some thick blankets and cardboard to block light from escaping. I can also help you with sound dampeners so nobody can hear you from outside. After all, I have some experience with that.”

Adrien and Marinette nodded, standing up and picking up their empty plates. “We can go tonight, and spend the first night in the lair.”

Marinette shivered. “That’s gonna be creepy. Sleeping in the area where Hawkmoth spent so much time terrorizing Paris.”

Adrien nodded. “We don’t have much choice. Come on, I’ll show you where it was.”

They all left the apartment and went for the roof. Adrien and Marinette stood on the edge of the roof, making Alyas’ heart lurch, but they transformed and jumped, heading in the general direction of the old Agreste Mansion. 

“They really are pretty cool, aren’t they?” Nino stared after them as they grew smaller and smaller.

Alya fingered her necklace again. “Yeah, they really are.” She looked over to see Nino playing with one of his bracelets. They both had their nervous habits.

“Perhaps one day, we can join them again.” Alya said as they both turned to go back inside.

  
**CHLOE**  


Chloe watched as the two shapes dwindled away and eventually vanished into Agreste manor. Chloe shook her head as she turned away. It was a wonder those two ever managed to keep their identities secret when they didn’t even try to hide anything. 

Chloe walked into her fathers’ study, where he was cursing again. Chloe stepped to his side and saw the familiar webpage of Madam Switch. 

“Another article against you?” Chloe asked. Her father nodded, muttering to himself that he would find who Madam Switch was. Right now, he was dedicated to the idea that Madam Switch was a man, using the name “Madam” as a misnomer.

Chloe rolled her eyes and walked out of the office. It was so obvious that Madam Switch was Alya. Chloe had memorized her writing style with the Ladyblog. Alya did a good job hiding her style so that other people didn’t make the connection, but Chloe had spent two years dedicated to the Ladyblog (without telling Alya, of course) and had spotted small similarities between the two until it was starkly obvious to her.

Chloe went to her room, and called Alya. When she answered, Chloe immediately started talking. 

“Before you ask, I already know your own little secret identity. I want you to tear him down. You know who I’m talking about. Every resource I have will be at your disposal.”

Chloe hung up before her father could figure out what was going on. He had her phone tapped, naturally. He always was very overbearing. Luckily, that only made Chloe sneakier. The tap wouldn’t have bothered with such a short call, and since Chloe never said any names, nobody would have known who she was talking to.

Chloe put her phone away and started getting ready for bed. She took out her decorative hair comb and set it on her desk, and got into her pajamas. She was on her way to bed when a voice stopped her. 

“When are you going to help them?”

Chloe turned and raised an eyebrow. “When they need it. They haven’t hit that point yet.”

“Beware, Chloe. Wait too long and it might be too late.”

Chloe nodded, and went to bed. But she couldn’t get to sleep easily. The voice was right. If she waited too long, it would be too late.

**ADRIEN**

****  


Adrien led Marinette through his house, frowning as memories started coming back to him. A lot of them were very negative. His father turning his back on him. His father berating him. Nathalie ignoring his treatment.

Emptiness.

Adrien shivered, shaking his head to try to clear it. Marinette squeezed his hand, offering her support, but it was obvious that she was also uncomfortable. 

This was the site of the final fight against Hawkmoth, after all. They couldn’t remember the final fight at all, but there was a bad energy throughout the entire house, like something evil still lived there.

“I really hope we can take care of this soon.” Marinette looked around at the dim environment, which was covered in cobwebs and dust now. Adrien had to hold back a sneeze as he looked around the old foyer. “I hate this place already.”

Plagg floated in a circle around the room, with Tikki flying in the opposite direction. Where they crossed, a small flash of light lit the room. “This house feels different. What Hawkmoth did… It changed the energies around here.”

“It’s evil now. You’ll have to be careful. Don’t spend more time than you have to until you can fix the energies.”

Adrien cocked his head. “What did he do that was so bad?”

Tikki opened her mouth to answer, but Plagg flew in front of her. “It’s fine. It didn’t work. We don’t have to worry about it.” When Adrien opened his mouth again, Plagg twisted around, floating through a wall. “I said that we don’t have to talk about it. Drop it, boy.”

Tikki looked after Plagg, shock evident in her eyes. “He doesn’t mean that, Adrien. What Hawkmoth did… It was terrible. But it isn’t my place to go against Plaggs’ wishes. I’m sorry.”

As Tikki followed Plagg, Marinette leaned into him. Adrien leaned his head down onto hers for a second before going to his fathers’ study. He looked at the picture of his mother, feeling like she was watching his every move, judging his mistakes. 

“What’s that?” Marinette pointed to the side of the portrait, which was farther from the wall than the other side was, like it was a slightly open door. 

Adrien was about to open the portrait when Plagg suddenly swooped in. “Tikki, I think we might have an answer! I totally forgot about this!” 

Adrien opened the portrait, revealing a safe that was also partly opened. Plagg eagerly rushed forward, looking into the safe. 

“Tikki! It’s still here!” Plagg moved over for Tikki as she looked in and gasped. 

Adrien opened the safe more and saw that it had been ransacked and emptied of all contents… 

Except for a small brooch in the shape of a peacock tail. Adrien reached out to grab it. “How did they miss this?”

“It’s a failsafe. It hid itself from everyone except Miraculous Holders.” Plagg said reverently. 

“Why would it do that?” Adriens hand closed around the brooch. 

“Because that is the peacock Miraculous.” Tikki said as the brooch started glowing.

A ball of light shot out from it, and resolved into a small kwami with a long, drooping tail. 

“I DON’T WANT TO, GA- Wait. Adrien? My, how you’ve grown!”

Adrien felt like someone had slapped his face, followed by the feeling of someone dousing him in cold water. 

“Duusuu?”

**NINO**

****  


Nino had been surprised when he got the call from Adrien, asking for him and Alya to go to the former Agreste residence. They had immediately changed from their pajamas and started heading over. Once they landed at the manor, they snuck in and met the two in the foyer.

Adrien and Marinette were sitting down, their eyes staring into space, their faces registering shock. They didn’t even twitch at the entrance. Instead, Tikki and Plagg, who had been sitting in front of their respective charges, flew over, holding their hands (or however you’d describe them) over their mouths in a shushing motion. 

Nino and Alya were guided into another room before Tikki and Plagg said something. 

“Marinette and Adrien are going through a reversal of the process we did when they gave up their Miraculous. We didn’t think that this would happen anytime soon. It’s based on proximity to Kwamis and the power of the Miraculous.”

Alya frowned at the two kwamis. “What changed?”

Plagg gestured to the other room. “Look over to Adrien.”

Nino leaned over, and saw that there was something laying on Marinettes’ neck. It suddenly looked up, and Nino saw that there was a kwami on her shoulders, blinking blearily at Nino. 

“Why is there a kwami on Marinette?” Nino asked. 

Plagg shrugged. “Because Adrien is allergic to feathers. Turns out that magic feathers still count.”

Alya threw her hands up in the air. “That doesn’t answer anything!” 

Tikki threw up her hands, shushing Alya. “Be quiet! Don’t wake them! Me and Plagg are keeping them in a trance. Don’t let them wake up until we are ready. They have memories that are best left unknown.”

Nino looked back at the two. “I think that you two should go back to them.”

The two kwami flew over to the door, and Tikki whimpered and Plagg actually cried out. “Shit! I hoped that it wouldn’t be this soon!” He flew over to Adriens’ forehead, and held his paw to his forehead. 

Adrien was shaking, his eyes shut tightly, and tears were beginning to leak from his eyelids. Marinette was curling her knees to her chest and whimpering. Alya ran to Marinettes’ side. “What’s going on?”

Tikki held her hand up to Marinettes’ forehead in a mirror of Plagg. “She is remembering the fight against Hawkmoth. I really hoped this would come later. We could have stopped it, then.”

Alya stood suddenly, her face tight with rage. “How dare you? Those are their memories! They deserve them back! You have no idea how hard life was for them without their memories.”

Nino stepped forward to grab Alya and pull her back, but both kwami were faster at flying up to her face. 

“You have no idea what happened during that fight. You have no idea what happened to the two of them. You don’t know how broken Adrien was when he found out that Hawkmoth was his father. The only person who could understand what they went through was each other. If they were to have to live with those memories, they would have had a terrible life knowing that they had to live through that. You want to know what happened to the energy of this house?” 

Alya stepped back from the rage of Plagg’s rant, and from the fury in Tikkis’ face. Nino, however, had eyes for his two friends. “Um… I think you two should go back to their foreheads.”

**ADRIEN**

****  


He was detransformed right in front of the akuma. Ladybug reacted quickly, taking the item from the akuma, and going through the steps to purify it, then let the civilian back down to the street before he could see Adrien. She turned to Adrien, her own transformation letting up as she ran up. Adrien was in the middle of a panic attack.

“He knows. He knows who I am. Hawkmoth saw me. He can attack me directly. He might even be on the way to my house! My father! Nathalie! He could hurt them to get to me!”

Marinette grabbed him by the arms, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “Adrien, it’s going to be fine. We will go to your house, and we will defend it from Hawkmoth.”

Adrien nodded, his mind still reeling, unable to focus on anything. But, he managed to shove them down with the thought that he would be able to save his father and worry later. He transformed when Plagg was ready, and followed Ladybug to his house. 

They burst in through the doors, but stopped in their tracks. Hawkmoth was standing in the foyer, a look of shock on his face. He quickly recovered, and focused on Adrien, a sneer growing on his face. “Hello, Adrien. Nice to see you.”

Nathalie walked in from a side room, looking at her tablet. “Mr. Agreste, this line needs to be approved by you, please take care of it really quickly.” She walked right up to Hawkmoth, holding out her tablet and a pen. 

“Nathalie, darling. We have guests.” Hawkmoth gestured to Adrien and Ladybug. Nathalie looked over, a look of shock growing over her face. “Don’t worry. They should be leaving soon. I suppose that you will be staying at Miss Dupain-Chengs’ house?”

Adrien narrowed his eyes, the scene before him beginning to click in his mind. “Father?”

Hawkmoth rolled his eyes. “Come now, Adrien. I taught you to be smarter than that. Of course I’m your father.”

Nathalie somehow managed to look even more shocked as she looked at Adrien. “Adrien? Is that really you?”

Hawkmoth waved his hand at her. “Yes, he is Adrien, I am Gabriel, Ladybug is Marinette. Let’s get this over with.”

Nathalie stepped forward. “No! You can’t!”

“Get out of the way.” Hawkmoth tried stepping around her. 

“No! I won’t let you hurt your son!” Nathalie held out her hands. Adrien jumped forward to get her out of the way, but Hawkmoth was faster. 

Adrien stopped hard in order to avoid the tip of Hawkmoths’ cane sword. But he couldn’t stop looking at it. After all, it was currently sticking out of her shoulder, close to her neck, but not lethal. Hopefully. 

Hawkmoth easily tossed her aside, and she crumpled against the wall. Adrien cried out, and Ladybug even started going to her side before she remembered who she was facing. 

“Well, no reason to waste time with talking.” Hawkmoth immediately attacked Ladybug, slamming his cane down on her collarbone, and Adrien heard a crunch. 

“Don’t worry, Adrien. Tikki can take care of her.”

Adrien charged Hawkmoth, driving him back while Ladybug recovered. Adrien heard another pop, and Ladybug cried out, but she was shortly at his side, helping to hold Hawkmoth back. 

They had a back-and-forth for a while before Hawkmoth shoved them both back, then shouted “STOP!” 

Adrien and Ladybug stopped, holding their weapons at the ready while Hawkmoth slammed his cane to the ground. 

“Do you even realize why I’m doing this? Adrien, Marinette, I can use your Miraculous to save her.”

Adrien rolled his eyes. “Who? Mother?”

“Yes.” Hawkmoth looked Adrien in the eyes. “I can bring her back, Adrien.”

“Really? You can?” When Hawkmoth nodded, Adrien dug his feet into the ground even more. “That’s pretty neat. But that doesn’t mean that you can just terrorize Paris for two years. I buried my mother, and I moved on.”

Hawkmoth looked down. “So be it.”

With a lunge, Hawkmoth was suddenly in front of Adrien, holding his bare sword to his chest. “If you won’t help me get her back, then I’ll take it by force.”

Adrien watched the sword disappear, and a sharp pain bloomed in his chest. He looked down and saw the sword sticking out from his chest.

Ladybug screamed a terrible sound as she looked at Adrien. She flew forward and punched Hawkmoth so hard in the face he collapsed to the ground. He weakly held out his hand as she grabbed his Miraculous and ripped it off. A blast of darkness flew from his body as he screamed. 

Gabriel Agreste looked up from the ground, seeing Adrien standing there, bleeding from his chest. 

“Adrien? No, no, no no no, Adrien!” Gabriel lunged forward, grabbing Adrien as he fell. “Plagg, come on, please help him. Please Plagg, help him. Now! I can’t lose him too!”

Ladybug stood behind him, looking confused. 

Adrien looked at his father as his vision started fading to black.  
.  
.  
.  
Adrien gasped and sat up suddenly, Alya and Nino stepping back. 

Plagg flew behind them, looking down. 

“Plagg? Was that real?” When Plagg nodded, Adrien settled back on his hands. “Hold shit. I think I was killed by my own father...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is why I'm not gonna leave you hanging for too long.


	9. Repercussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien deals with what happened to him during the final battle with Hawkmoth. Alya and Nino offer their help in ways to hide them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm so late. My week has been rather fun lately, so I only recently got time to just sit down and write.

“The Miraculous stones give extraordinary gifts to their wielders. As previous wielders, you two have already experienced it. One of the abilities granted is supernatural healing. Ladybug herself experienced a lot of it during the final battle. Hawkmoth broke her collarbone during the fight, and it was healed within seconds.” Nino glanced over to Marinette and Adrien. Marinette was hugging Adrien tightly, and Adrien was staring off into space, shaking. Plagg continued as Nino looked at Alya next. She hadn’t stopped looking at the pair, tears leaking from her eyes. “In some very extreme cases, me and Tikki are allowed to bring someone back from the grave. In this case, we were allowed to, since Ladybug was about to kill Hawkmoth. Adrien managed to stop her.”

Alya spoke, her voice trembling. “What happened with Hawkmoth?”

“Gabriel Agreste was taken over by a spirit.” Tikki said. “When his wife died, he was distraught. His soul was left open to the ether, and something took advantage of that. It tempted him with the idea of power, and it kept a tight hold on his mind. The one thing that he was not allowed to do was to reject the Miraculous Stone. When he did so in order to become The Collector, the spirit was still in control, since it had power over his akumatization. When Ladybug took his Miraculous, the spirit was released back into the ether.”

Nino grabbed Alyas’ hand. “What will happen now?”

“Adrien and Marinette must find their way back into level heads. We never intended for this to happen. It was the magic of the Kwamis that took their memories, and the one thing that can reverse this is proximity to more magic. It interferes with itself, and negates itself. This is why Hawkmoths’ sword could harm them when no other weapon could do the trick. When we released Dusuu, the magic was interfered with enough that our spell was broken.”

Nino was about to ask further, when Alya spoke. “NINO! Where are they going?”

Half a second later, Tikki and Plagg streaked away as if they were pulled by invisible strings. Nino ran after them, and at the end of the hallway leading to the lair, he stopped beside Alya, watching the dwindling forms of Ladybug and Chat Noir as they ran across the rooftops.

****

ADRIEN

****

**  
**

Adrien stopped next to Ladybug on the Eiffel Tower, and they sat down on the top, watching the city below. He couldn’t get the image out of his head. 

He had had a sword sticking out of his chest. His father was on the other end of that sword. But that wasn’t the worst part.

After his vision faded to black, it never got brighter. It was just blackness, and endless fall, and voices. Terrible voices, telling him what would happen when he arrived to wherever he was going. He had been so scared. Scared of the empty black void that just continued forever. Scared of the voices. Scared of what they said. 

Scared about how they were not quite human.

Adrien just kept falling, listening to the voices. However, after a time, Adrien felt something tug at him. It was like a rope wrapped around every part of his body and none of it at the same time. It pulled him backwards, faster than he had been falling. 

Then, he had slammed back into his body. It was a strange feeling, to be slammed back into his own body. For the mind to suddenly have form again. The light was blinding, and the sound deafening. 

Adrien watched as Ladybug fought against his father. Not Hawkmoth, but his father. He lurched forward, and grabbed her leg, stopping her before she killed him. 

“Adrien!” Ladybug was calling his name.

Shaking himself out of the memory, he looked into her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He curled up, and she pulled him into her embrace.

“Don’t be sorry. You couldn’t have known. He had us both shaken for the entire fight.”

“I can’t get it out of my head. It was just a void. Nothing was there. Every time I close my eyes, I’m back in the void.”

Ladybug grabbed his hand, pulling him close. “I won’t let you fall anymore, Adrien. And if you do, I’ll be here to catch you.”

Adrien leaned into her, letting the tears flow. It was comforting, actually. He knew that she would be there whenever he needed her, just as he would be there for her.

“Let’s stay here for a while, My Lady. Just the two of us.” Adrien closed his eyes. 

There was a pulling sensation, and he opened his eyes again to see Plagg leaving the ring. He didn’t know that was possible without him saying the words. Tikki joined him soon after, and they both drifted away, but not too far. 

“Just the two of us.” Marinette snuggled into him, and Adrien wrapped his arms around her.

Maybe, just maybe, things will be fine.

****

MARINETTE

****

**  
**

Nino and Alya were waiting for them when they arrived through the window. Nino walked towards Adrien, but Marinette was distracted by Alya tackling her into a hug, even as her transformation wore off. 

“I’m so sorry. We didn’t know. I’m glad you’re back.” Alya whispered into her ear. Marinette just nodded, unable to get words out of her lungs since they were being crushed.

Marinette remained in the hug for a while afterwards, until she tapped Alya on the shoulder that it had gone on for long enough.

Adrien and Nino were talking, Nino giving Adrien a fist bump before they walked over. Alya released Marinette and turned to them. Marinette walked to Adriens’ side, and they all walked back into the main house. 

Alya pulled out two bags and held them out to Adrien and Marinette. They took the bags and looked inside, seeing boxes of hair dye. Marinette had brown hair dye, and Adrien had black. 

“We are dying our hair? Why?”

Alya raised an eyebrow. “Well, you two need to get some food eventually, right? Or maybe just go on a walk so you don’t end up going stir crazy? If you dye your hair, it will be harder for people to know that they are next to one of the most searched-for people in Paris.”

Adrien raised his eyebrows, and Marinette started trying to envision Adrien with black hair. It was an interesting sight, to be sure. “What if people see our hair and then see us as Ladybug and Chat Noir? I mean, people are not idiots. They’ll be bound to notice if the two most visible people in Paris also change their look to match the two most searched for people in Paris.”

“We can change your appearance so you will look the same when transformed!” Tikki said, floating around in circles over Plagg, who kept spinning to look at her.

Adrien nodded. “That’s handy. How much can you change our appearance?”

“Not too much. We can’t just make you two look like entirely new people. But changing your hair should be manageable.” Plagg said, looking back at them, doing his best to ignore Tikki, who started giggling.

Marinette giggled as well, watching Plagg try and fail to keep his eyes from flitting up to Tikki, who had started to fly around in waves, so she bounced in and out of his vision. Watching the kwami play around was very entertaining. 

Adrien held out his hand and Plagg immediately zoomed onto it, curling up and putting his tail over his eyes. Marinette sighed, and set Tikki on her shoulder. The four friends talked amongst each other for another couple minutes, and said their goodbyes. 

Adrien and Marinette went to one of the bathrooms to dye their hair, helping the other to get the color in. Adrien wrinkled his nose at the brand, but then smiled. “I’m still used to being a model. This brand is known for making the hair seem a bit worse for wear. Not much, but enough that the cameras would notice.”

They had just finished up and were getting some beds ready when they got a text from Alya. 

THERE IS SOME SORT OF ATTACK GOING ON BY THE EIFFEL TOWER!!

“We should go. This is probably the work of Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor.” Adrien walked over to the hallway leading to the butterfly room, pausing for a second. “I hate the feeling of this place.”

Marinette had to agree, the hallway felt… evil somehow. But this was no time to worry about it. “We have to go. Spots on!” Marinette sprinted down the hallway, speeding up as the transformation took hold, and she jumped out of the window, followed closely by Chat Noir. 

It took them only a short time to get to the tower, where there was a woman dressed in a red and black polka dot outfit shouting and randomly hitting people as they ran past. She wasn’t saying anything coherent, just shouting and maybe kinda trying to say something. But she was too enraged to make any recognizable noise.

Marinette landed softly, and crept forward until she was right behind the woman. When the woman reached out to strike a passerby, Marinette stopped the blow, causing the woman to spin around. 

“Ah, ladybug. So nice of you to join us. And Chat Noir too! Ah, this night just keeps getting better and better. Firstly, I have been blessed by the wonderful Coccinelle and Chat Adjutor to be able to release my inhibitions and strike out at this world! Secondly, I am able to bring you two down with my bare hands.”

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Let’s just see what happens when you try to fight us.” 

The woman tried to punch Marinette, but Marinette didn’t even feel the blow land. Her suit absorbed the entire impact. 

Chats’ baton swung over to knock the woman over, but the baton stopped as soon as it hit the red and black fabric. The woman stepped on the baton, yanking it from Chats’ hands. She picked it up and swung it at Marinettes’ head, but Marinette was just able to duck under it. 

Chat tried to grab the woman, but he could not find any purchase on the suit, even though it seemed to be made of nothing but loose fabric. He growled, and tried to grab her hand, and he managed to secure a hold on her wrist where the fabric didn’t cover. He hesitated as he realized his success, and the woman used that second to yank her hand free and knock his legs out from under him. 

Marinette pulled the string from her yo-yo and when the woman tried to punch her, dodged and wrapped the string around the wrist, and with a twisting motion, locked the arm behind the woman. Marinette lassoed the other wrist and pulled it back as well. She held the woman there as Chat regained his feet and darted forward, poking her forehead with a claw. They remained like that for a few seconds, before it was Ladybugs’ turn to do her part. 

Once she was done, the two heroes noticed the crowd that was gathering. The people were stepping forward aggressively. “Why couldn’t you two just leave well enough alone? Now that you’re back, we have to deal with another TWO supervillains! Down with the Miraculous!”

The crowd started taking up the cheer as they started running forward. Marinette grabbed Chat Noirs’ hand and they took off down a street. They had just made it to a corner when they saw another crowd forming at the end of that street. They were about to make a getaway when a voice spoke beside them. 

“Over here! Come in here!”

They followed the voice and ended up in an alleyway. A few people shoved them into a corner, told them to sit, and then threw tarps over them. They heard the mob arrive and demand to know where the heroes had gone, and the nicer people sent them in the wrong direction. 

The tarps were lifted off, and Marinette stood. A short man stood in front of her, looking between her and Chat in awe. 

“Don’t you two ever forget. You always have friends in Paris. If you need help, just call.”

As Marinette arrived back at the manor and went to bed, those words rang in her head. 

They weren’t completely abandoned after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!! Leave a comment about what you felt of it. Comments are my life blood.


	10. Bang

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien take a night out on the town. But they run into trouble at every turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break here!! I just moved to a new apartment, so I had to deal with all of that

Marinette stared at her hair in the mirror. She wasn’t used to her hair being brown like this. But even worse was Adrien. She had already almost attacked him a few times since he had such different hair, and it threw her off every time he walked in. 

Marinette walked out of the bathroom, seeing Adrien sitting on the couch, reading updates on his phone. He looked up as she walked in. 

“Did you know that the mayor actually decided to tell the police to search for us?”

Marinette raised an eyebrow. “Us as in Ladybug and Chat Noir, or Marinette and Adrien?”

“Both, actually. Ladybug and Chat Noir are wanted for the whole ‘they are defending Hawkmoth’ thing, and we are wanted for helping Hawkmoth.”

“What did the police have to say about it?” Marinette grabbed a box of cereal from the shelf as Adrien talked over his own bowl.

“Officer Raincomprix almost walked right out before he saw that every other police officer was backing him. At least in regards with Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien and Marinette are still being looked for.”

Marinette nodded as she sat down. “That makes sense. On that note, how is Sabrina? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

Adrien looked up from his phone, a large smile forming on his face. “She is actually studying to become a geologist right now. She’s going for a PHD.”

“Good for her! She always was really smart after doing all of Chloes’ homework. Geology, though? I didn’t know she was interested.”

Adrien shrugged. “She and Chloe did do a report on geology once. Which means that she probably got very well acquainted with it.”

Marinette nodded at that. “We should talk to her sometime.”

“Yeah, we should. Maybe we could ask Chloe if she knows her number.”

Marinette nodded, eating her cereal. She pulled out her own phone, playing an app while she ate. While they were cleaning their bowls, Marinette asked “What is the next weapon you think we might see?”

Adrien laughed. “I think that it might be a bicycle.”

Under most circumstances, Marinette would have just laughed, but it had been proven that the weapons that the power Coccinelle gave always yielded a random object. One of the people was only given a shopping bag covered in black spots. He was easy to defeat.

They decided to wander around the city that day, hoping that nobody noticed them despite their hair.

It worked. 

For two hours. 

They knew something was wrong when they noticed a crowd of people gathering near them, pointing at them. And there was also the texts. 

**ALYA** : _What were you two thinking?_

**NINO** : _The hair dye was supposed to be for quick trips!_

**CHLOE** : _that hair looks gr8, u 2!! btw u might want to go back to the house_

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, and then at the crowd of people, several of whom were talking on the phone. They decided to take Chloes’ advice and head back to the house. 

Except… The group was slowly beginning to surround them. The only way out was an alleyway. 

Adrien grabbed Marinettes’ hand. “Do you trust me, Princess?”

Marinette nodded, and they took off running towards the alley. As soon as they turned the corner, Adrien muttered “Claws out!” and picked her up, turning around as he transformed. The crowd pointed as they saw him carrying her out of the alley, murmurs of “Ladybug must have him” following them as he vaulted across the rooftops. 

Their victory was short-lived as they noticed something going on a few streets over. Everyone was distracted by one of the brainwashed people shouting loudly, so Chat just threw Marinette to the side as she called for her transformation, catching herself into a swing that took her next to the victim. 

“Um… Ma’am?”

The woman was holding a pool noodle. That was it. A red pool noodle with black spots. Chat landed beside her, his face falling. 

“Not a bicycle, kitty. Sorry.”

“Darn it. I guess I was wrong.”

Marinette tried to keep her neutral face as she saw the pool noodle being swung towards her face. However, she should have paid more attention to how it wasn’t bending at all. 

Because it was actually a homemade LARPing sword. It was still rather solid. 

Marinette straightened herself up as Chat tried to hold back his laughter while he grabbed the pool noodle covered pvc out of the womans’ hand. Marinette gave him her best serious face while she was trying not to laugh herself.

“This is serious, Chat! I just got hit in the face!”

Chat broke the noodle in half, giving her an amused grin. “I know. It was great. Cataclysm!”

As Chat poked the woman in the forehead, Marinette looked around at the crowd gathering around them. They were… chanting something?

“Chat, hurry it up.” Marinette took up a defensive stance next to him. “I think we are about to have our hands full.”

Chat finished up his end of the process, and Marinette immediately started her side of things. However, for whatever reason, this one took longer. It was like Chat Adjutor destroyed more of her than Coccinelle had added. Marinette found herself adding much more of the womans’ destroyed personality than she had had to do before. 

So, it took much longer. 

Which gave the mob time to close in and grab Chat Noir. As soon as she had finished with the victim, there was a cry of “She’s done! Get her!”

Marinette realized what was happening. The mob wanted to wait until she was done. That was surprisingly kindhearted of them. 

But they also had overwhelmed Chat, and were holding him pinned to the ground. 

Marinette growled. Launching forward, she cleared the people who were lunging for her. Landing near Chat, Marinette started swinging her yo-yo over her head, slowly extending it to get the people away from Chat. As they backed away, she bent down to check on him. 

Marinette stopped spinning her yo-yo, and threw it to the top of the building, starting to pull herself and Chat up, but the mob grabbed her ankle, holding her down. 

Just as she was about to yank upwards to try and break the grip, but right before she did so, a loud cry echoed down the road. 

“LET THEM GO, YOU IDIOTS!!”

There was another mob running down the road, all of them dressed in various quality Ladybug and Chat Noir costumes. They were all lead by a woman with blue eyes and long blond hair, set in a ponytail. 

Marinette thought to herself to give Chloe a big hug next time they met up. 

The mob holding Marinette didn’t let go, but still turned to face the new threat. Marinette felt Chat stir against her. He was waking up. 

The first of the new mob hit, and all hell broke loose. The people holding Marinette yanked downwards, and she fell to the ground. Chat grabbed her, twisting so he was on the ground beneath her. 

Then, Marinette became aware of two events. 

She saw a figure in green start to bowl everyone over, and he looked very familiar. 

And there was a loud crack through the air, and Chat trembled underneath her. 

Marinette knew what that sound was. She had heard it a few times when the police were near an akuma attack. She had heard it in some of her nightmares. 

And she _screamed._

She felt the green figure push her off of Chat to pick him up. 

She then felt another set of arms grab her and start leading her away. 

But she also saw the figure with the smoking gun. He was turning to run away. The figure holding Marinette wouldn’t let her run after him. 

She heard the two figures talking about issues with the house, because he was loose now, but Marinette could only focus on Chat’s form bouncing on the green guy. 

A sharp sting on her face broke her out of her trance, and Marinette looked at the interior of the Agreste Mansion. 

An orange fox lady was looking at her, and a man dressed like a turtle was fussing over Adrien. 

“Rena Rouge? Carapace?” Marinette whispered. She had vague memories… “Alya? Nino?”

But before anyone could answer, the front door slammed open, and a tall, thin figure stepped through. 

He was still dressed in the prison suit, but he somehow made it look good. His hair was more gray than blond now, but he still possessed the same deep, imposing voice. 

“What has happened to my son?”

Gabriel Agreste walked into the house, looking absolutely furious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS!!! COMMENTS ARE MY LIFE BLOOD!!! THEY ARE THE LIFE BLOOD OF MY WORK!!!!! PLEASE LEAVE SOME THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS!!!!!


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